The EUVE All-Sky Survey and Bright Source Catalog

After the planned six weeks of in-orbit checkout and calibrations, the EUVE all-sky and deep surveys started on July 24, 1992, and are currently in progress. The three EUVE scanning telescopes are observing the entire sky for the first time throughout the EUV bandpass in four different filters (centered at 100, 200, 450, and 600 Angstroms), with a minimum exposure time of 500 seconds. Simultaneously, the Deep Survey/Spectrometer telescope is scanning a strip of 2 times 180 degrees along the ecliptic equator between 70--250 Angstroms, with an average exposure time of 20000 seconds. In this paper we present the first results from the EUVE surveys. Maps of the EUV sky, in four colors, and exposure time distributions are shown. A first reduction of the available survey data has yielded a preliminary version of the EUVE Bright Source Catalog. EUV positions, count rates and optical identifications (when available) of the sources currently found are given. The spatial distribution and nature of the sources are discussed. This work has been supported by NASA contracts NAS5-30180 and NAS5-29298.